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Sunday, November 23, 2008

Trip to Spain Day 4 (2)(Sevilla)

We took a short break after returning from the Plaza de España to our hotel, then went to the Seville Cathedral (Catedral de Santa María de la Sede de Sevilla). This cathedral is known as the third largest church in the world (following St. Peter's Basilica and St Paul's Cathedral). Now I concured all three largest churches in the world!!

美しいファサード (Portada del Príncipe)。

The beautiful façade (Portada del Príncipe).

近付いて見ると飾りの精巧さに驚かされます。

Getting closer, you would notice how detail the decorations are.

いよいよ中に入ります。写真左側に見えているのは巨大なパイプオルガン。

Inside the cathedral. The stuff on the left side of the picture is the big pipe organ.

This is the largest and richest altarpiece in the world and one of the finest examples of Gothic woodcarving (and gilding). No way to express its beauty by my camera. It was so golden and I don't know how to describe it with words... You just have to go there and see it.

コロンブスのお墓 (Tumba de Cristóbal Colón)。

The tomb of Christopher Columbus (Tumba de Cristóbal Colón). The sarcophagus of Columbus is carried by four large statues, representing the kingdoms of Aragón, Castille, León and Navarra.

そのほかにも、広い敷地中どこもかしこも豪華に飾られています。日本のようなわび・さびとはまったく無縁です。

And everywhere else is lavishly decorated as well.

もちろんステンドグラスもたくさんあります。

Of course there are many stained glasses, too.

ステンドグラスその2．

Another stained glass.

高名な（多分）主教様の石棺。

The sarcophagus of (probably) the distinguished bishop.

Juan de Arfe y Villafañe という職人の作品。

A work by Juan de Arfe y Villafañe, a Spanish engraver, goldsmith, artist, anatomist and author.

ほかにもた～くさんのものが飾られていますが、多すぎて何がなんだか覚えていられません。

There are so many other stuff, but they were just to many to remember.

絵画もいろいろ。当たり前ですが全部キリスト教関連の絵です。

Many paintings as well.

ここからいくつかの小部屋を通り抜けてヒラルダの塔への登り口まで行きます。それぞれの小部屋にはまた豪華な装飾品がたくさん展示してあります。

From here, we walked to the entrance to the Giralda Tower, going through many small rooms.

天井もそれぞれの部屋ごとに違う模様が施されています。

The ceiling of each room is decorated differently.

銀 (めっき?) の置物。

A silver workpiece.

キリスト教関連の絵画や装飾品って何気にグロテスクなものが多いですよね。まあそれぞれに意味があるのでしょうが。

I am not familiar with Christian relics, but what is the meaning of this? Why is a girl standing on other girls' heads?

これもちょっと怖い。なぜに生首が???

This was kind of scary... Why the head???

もちろん、とても美しいものもあります。黄金の王冠。エメラルド (?) などの宝石も埋め込まれています。

Of course there are many beautiful relics as well. This is the golden crown decorated with gemstones (emerald?).

これも金。

These are also gold.

そしてこれも。

And this one, too.

またまたこれも。金や銀はスペインが新大陸から持ち帰ったものなんでしょうね。

I believe gold and silver were brought back to Spain from the "New World" during it's golden age.

ここにある階段からヒラルダの塔へ登ることができます。

This is the entrance to Giralda Tower.

たくさんの階段を上らないといけないので普段運動不足の私には結構つらい...。

Many steps to the top of the tower... I don't usually do a lot of exercises, so it was very tough for me...

途中たくさん窓があるので外を見るふりをして一休み。

There are many windows on the way. I stopped at the windows several times to take a rest, pretending I was just enjoying the view.

大聖堂の屋根の部分です。

The roof of the cathedral.

やっと一番上まで登ってきました。塔にはたくさんの鐘がぶら下がっています。今でも使われているのでしょうか?

Finally we climbed up to the top. We saw many bells hanging. I am not sure if they are still in use now.

頂上は結構高く、周りには他に高い建物もないので、すごく見晴らしがいいです。

The top of the tower is actually quite high and there is nothing to block the view from the tower. We enjoyed the beautiful view of the city of Sevilla.

This is the Giralda Twoer we just came down from. This is a former minaret that was converted to a bell tower for the cathedral. This looks very similar to the minaret that I visited in Marrakesh, Morocco. I wonder if that one was the model for this minaret.

About Me

Thank you for visiting my blog. I was born and raised in Kyoto, Japan, and currently live in the Boston area with my husband from Taiwan and Poirot, the pug (male). We love to travel different places and eat good food of any kind (from street foods to Michelin 3 star restaurants). My articles are mostly written in Japanese, but I'll gradually add English version, as well.